Her Act of Kindness
by t-titansfan
Summary: Raven doesn't want her friends to know what she does late on Saturday nights.
1. The Flight

Disclaimer: If I could buy the Teen Titans, I would.

She was standing inside her room, taking a deep breath, and bracing herself to take the first step out. Why couldn't this ever be any easier? Granted, it did go against her image of withdrawal and isolation to intentionally go out of her way to do something kind for someone else, but one would think that after ten weeks, the practice would become less of a strain to her ego.

For the sake of caution, she re-checked the display on her digital clock: 1:12 AM. Oh, yes, if any villains or psychopaths were making plans of an intrusion in the Titans' schedules later that day, the sleep-deprived Raven would single-handedly see to it that all miscreants were incapacitated – permanently! With that thought of irritated determination come and gone, she placed the index and middle fingers of both hands to her forehead, and reached out to touch the minds of her sleeping comrades. That is, she was hoping they were all asleep.

First on her path of psychic outreach was Robin: wistfully dreaming of giving an acceptance speech at an awards ceremony thrown in his honor. The medal was for… breaking the record of villains vanquished in a month's time! Boy Wonder, you definitely need a hobby! Also, why all the screaming fan girls? Starfire would be most disappointed in you!

Further down the hall was orange-skinned Titan herself: a serenely vacant grass meadow with a long blanket stretched with her sitting at one end. Along the middle, there was an oversized picnic basket with a bizarre amalgam of Tamaranean and Earth foods. The boy sitting at the opposite end and smiling at her was… oh, big surprise there!

It was less of surprise to find the next person sleeping, due to Beast Boy's animalistic sleeping habits: a surprisingly sorrowful setting for the light-hearted boy. He was weeping over the dormant body of someone who was apparently a good friend. On further inspection, she saw that it was the corpse of… Cyborg! Had she probed his mind a few moments earlier, she would have heard laments that the green teen had actually tricked the half-robot into accidentally swallowing some of his tofu!

This last brain would be more difficult to delve into, considering the brain was partially mechanized: an odd lack of detail for a reverie contrived in the mind of such a prodigy. It appeared to be a two-dimensional world in which she could look beneath her feet and see lettering coming her direction. It was as if she were inside a Star Wars introduction! Upon further inspection the text read, line after line:

CYBORG: 1st place - 1,000,000 points

CYBORG: 1st place - 1,000,000 points

CYBORG: 1st place - 1,000,000 points…

…and so on. He was dreaming about setting high scores on a video game? And she thought Robin needed to get a life!

With that, Raven's inspection of her friends' subconscious minds was completed. It was safe for her to step out of her dark sanctuary. She treaded light-footedly down the halls until finally stopping at the doorway that would lead guide her up to the rooftop. After stepping out into the pitch-black night and slightly warm breeze, she trekked her way over to the edge and breathed deeply in preparation once again. For Raven, this was the equivalent of stepping off of the high dive into a pool.

If her friends knew what she flew off into the city in order to accomplish at this time every week, she would no doubt never hear the end of it. For all they understood, benevolence was not a part of her repertoire. The occasional doubt would creep into her mind when she contemplated past occurrences, but in the end, she would always hold on to the desire to keep this 'avocation' hidden from them for as long as her will and drive permitted it. She did not feel the need for advice or reassurance, and she did not seek their adulation. Re-establishing this mental barrier, she took the plunge and flew off into the city.

Raven flew about a half-dozen feet above the highest skyscrapers, her acute, violet eyes vigilantly scanning the mostly empty streets. The worst of things to occur was the occasional stray feline rummaging through the trashcans of alleys in search for restaurant handouts. What more activity could she possibly expect, even from the local lowlives, at – she checked the watch she had placed on her wrist shortly before leaving – 1:48 AM? However, she would never take that chance, especially when flying so far south that she ended up in the seediest section of Jump City. This was, after all, the portion of town so ridden with drugs and underhandedness that it was where authorities deemed it necessary to implant the penitentiary. At the sight of this technological marvel of a correctional facility, our heroine begins to slowly, ever so slowly, make her descent.

After all these weeks, the guard of the late-night entry gate shift set for weekend nights could easily recognize the soft sounds of Raven's feet gingerly coming into contact with the cement. Though he felt these weekly visits unusual, he could at least count on the fact that the young woman would always be at his window at 1:55 AM on the dot every Saturday night. She excelled in punctuality as well as she did anything else she set her mind to.

"How have things been around here, Ralph?" she asked her acquaintance from under her hood. It was obviously just an obligatory introduction of her presence, taking into account her stoic expression and unblinking eyes.

"This last week has been fairly peaceful, I'm surprised to say," was the uniformed man's reply. They were not terribly conversational, for they hardly knew one another. "You and your comrades must be getting more effective at scarin' them all into submission. I could almost count the number of attempted jailbreaks on one hand."

"Swell," she answered back, rolling her eyes slightly from receiving a more verbose answer than she would have appreciated. "Well, go ahead and give it to me. We both know the procedure by now."

"Sure," said the guard, smiling behind his helmet. The activity Raven received authorization from the commissioner to perform inside the prison was unusual to say the least, but she still had to go through some form of protocol. Not even city-renowned teenage superheroes could be allowed to meander wherever they pleased.

Once she had worked her way through the written procedures, she was granted access from the front gate to find the subject for her humanitarian endeavor. Naturally, being a crime fighter in a structure filled with thugs she had helped to incarcerate, she was ever watchful and wary of her steps down the long corridors. It hardly helped that each cell had wall-width, transparent, reinforced glass for front doors. Everyone she walked past could see her. Of course, if anyone was dumb enough to threaten, sneer, or hiss at Raven, a fiery red glare from the blackness of her hood was enough to shut them up and leave them a shuttering, cowering mess.

By the time that watch on her wrist had landed on 2:00 AM on the dot, she had arrived at her final destination. There, lying in front of her, was a very special steel chamber door. Right next to it in big bold letters, as if to indicate an animal on display in the zoo, was the name of the criminal/victim who officials required to be on lockdown all day every day. Raven was not often known for being a sympathetic woman, but even she had to shake her head at the thought of how sorrowfully uncomfortable that must be. That was why this, if nothing else, was one schedule she could never afford to fall behind on. She slipped her access card across the electronic scanner so as to gain access inside. She had decided to take her hood down so that she could make herself more comfortable. Besides, the point of coming was not to hide from Otto Von Furth.

A/N: So, how was that for a first chapter? I don't do a lot of fictional writing, and this was just an introduction to a concept I've been thinking on for some time now. I'm always open for helpful criticism. (A cookie goes to anyone who knows the alter ego of the man I mentioned in the final sentence.)


	2. The Meeting

A/N: I would like to say thank to everyone who is at least giving my story a glance at this point. Still, the more reviews the better. Recreational storytelling is a bit outside my comfort zone, and I could use all the advice you have. (Yes, to the person who guessed – Otto Plasmus.)

At moments like these, Raven was grateful that no one on the team had asked why she had needed an afternoon nap earlier that day. The following exercise in mind linking required an immense amount of focus and energy. None of this was aided by the fact that she was trying to stay wide-awake in the middle of the night. She understood, however, that no matter how taxing her act of good will was on her body now, the rewarding feeling afterwards would make it all worthwhile. She thanked the two officers who were on their watch of this body for leaving and trusting her alone with Otto's coma-like form. Most of the time, at least one member of the penitentiary personnel would be monitoring the sleeping body just to make sure all life-support systems were functioning properly. For Raven, complete and total silence would be needed in order not to knock her mental connection with the partner she was about to 'buddy up' with.

The empath took a few steps closer towards the great cylindrical chamber that kept the lanky, near-middle-aged man in an almost constant state of slumber. She required the proximity of no more than a few yards. When Raven had come to visit the very first time, about ten weeks ago, she couldn't help but think to herself what in the name of sanity had caused her to wish to do this. As far as just about every official and/or civilian, not to mention the other Titans, were concerned, this was just another menace to society. He was a man, but at the same time a creature. It was this creature that would drain away energy any possible way he could find. Not to mention the fact that he didn't seem who got in his way or the number thereof. As is seen here, this is the price paid for having both empathy skills and also a conscience. The last time the adolescent heroes had been in combat with this former mine worker, he had been beaten in a matter of moments. Jump City's champions had become quite proficient at finding ways to bring down their long-time nemesis. But something happened the last time around that had made it quite different for the girl in question.

As Plasmus's human counterpart lay there quickly fading out of consciousness, she saw something in his eyes – something that only someone as emotionally perceptive as Raven could capture. It was a wordless plea, desperation to remain on the outside. She knew that if this man could remain in a state of human awareness, he would not intentionally cause violence towards those around him. He had neither the wish nor the strength of will to remain in his catatonic sleep. Ever since, the psychic heroine had been in debate with herself about how to go about Mr. Von Furth's request for external stimulation. She possessed the ability to communicate with others through their brains, she knew that much. It was also understood that no matter painful the scenario, for this person to only be active in his dreams, he could not under any circumstances be given release. That was when the epiphany came to her: if no one could release Plasmus to the outside, perhaps she could use her powers to take the outside world to him. Raven was always responsible and inquiring enough to always keep herself informed of the major events going on in the city. Perhaps she could use that wealth of knowledge to keep his yearning mind quenched. Maybe then he would not feel so desperately alone.

This brings us back to the present. After so many visits, the female Titan knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had made the right choice. Now was the time for the eleventh mark in the tally. Setting her cloak out on the cold ground beneath her, she set her legs in the lotus position, made herself as comfortable as could be done, shifted her steady gaze back towards the motionless form before her, and began the mental preparations. All that was needed was for her to close her eyes and "prepare for departure." This union of psyches had become comparatively easier after turning it into a common practice.

Darkness…

Darkness…

Darkness…

This was generally the first thing to greet Raven at the commencement of these journeys. To check into the dreams of others was one thing – to make herself a part of them was far different. The best way to describe a sensation such as this would like floating aimlessly through empty space without the need of specialized clothing. After a few moments of this, though, she would always find her way towards the light. It was the light that would guide her mind out of this limbo and place her into the dreamland generated by Otto's ever-active subconscious. These settings were generally rather placid. It was like stepping into a painter's amateurish reproduction of a section of Jump City. The way he himself had described it once was that he could maintain some semblance of memory of the places he had traveled to on his numerous monstrous rampages. (Raven's least favorite visit was when he had attempted to re-create the football field. She disliked that even more than the power plant.)

The mental incarnation of the violet-haired fighter opened up her eyes in the lighted area. Raven now found herself standing on a barren city street looking at a simulation of a familiar pizzeria. There were several outdoor booths with large umbrellas sticking out of the middles. There were a few dream-quality staff members wandering around the premises of this fantasy structure. Otto did have the ability to fabricate fictional people in his constant dream world, but he had once been able to interact with others for real. As long as he was aware that he wasn't actually awake, there could never be any substitute. Now came the time for Raven to make her weekly intrusion, which he welcomed, and in turn, receive her morality boost for the week. She wandered past all the vacant settings until her eyes happened across a familiar scrawny figure sitting with his back turned at the far end of the lot.

"Well… hello again," the girl called out in a monotone that was only near steady once she was just a few paces behind him. Plasmus was obviously caught by surprise, but he actually turned around to face her with a huge grin on his face.

"Huh. Long time no see!" he replied, obviously glad to have flesh and blood (or in this case, close to it) company.

A/N: Well, that's all I have for now. How did that hold your attention? Hope it wasn't too 'dry.' The villain in question is mostly ignored, but sometimes I like to wonder what goes on in a mind that's always asleep.


End file.
